Volume 8, Number 3 - Space and Missile Defense Command - U.S. ...

Little has been published on
early Army Space efforts. Can you
provide us some background?
Ellis: Early efforts of the Army in Space were brought
about by the Army Space Initiative Study. The study was
directed by then Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, GEN
Maxwell R. Thurman. He wanted the Army to be more
involved in Space and to see what Space could provide
the Army. Outgrowths of the study were the Army Space
Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the establishment
of a small detachment that became Army Space
Command at U.S. Space Command Headquarters in
Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Army Space Initiative
Study developed the first
Army Space Master Plan.
How successful has the Army
been at accomplishing the
goals outlined in this plan?
Ellis: The study and the master plan really didn’t attract
a lot of attention in the Army. The Army had basically
established the Army Space Institute and Army Space
Command, but the study and the plan were too far reaching
in their initiatives and recommendations for that
time. No one in the Army, certainly no one in the leadership
of the Army at that time supported it, including
GEN Maxwell R. Thurman and GEN Carl Vuono, who was
soon to be the Chief of Staff of the Army. They weren’t
looking long-term, they only wanted to know what we
could do now and how were we going to do it. Probably
a good deal of what the master plan laid out did come
through to fruition, but not so much because of the plan
itself, but because of the initiatives of the people at the
Army Space Institute and Army Space Command.
What other new missions did
ARSPACE receive during this
period of growth?
Ellis: ARSPACE didn’t receive any new missions. We
went out and assumed missions. These missions were
established by the force of the command’s personalities
and knowledge, and by its organization as the Army
Space Command, a component command of U.S. Space
Command. We took it upon ourselves to be the procurer
and trainer of GPS systems and weather systems.
We bought things and we sent training teams out. We
also established ourselves as the Army proponent for
missile defense because of our close relationship with
the Army Strategic Defense Command in Huntsville,
Ala., and with the Strategic Defense Initiative’s (Star
Wars) group in Washington, D.C. We became involved in
missile warning because that was a mission of U.S. Space
Command, but it wasn’t really getting to the tactical
Army and that effort yielded JTAGS. We didn’t receive a
mission from anybody. In fact, I had a deputy who said,
“You know, we haven’t gotten any of these missions
from the Department of the Army. Why are we doing
them?” And I said, “It’s our job to determine what our
missions are and we will take those missions that are
appropriate and execute them.” And we did.
The DSCS Operations Centers
transferred to Army Space
Command in October 1990. Did
this new mission reflect your
program for the command?
Ellis: Not at all. The Defense Satellite Communications
System operations centers were part of a larger
command at that time. I think it was the Army
Communications Command out of Fort Huachuca, Ariz.,
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Army Space Journal
2009 Fall Edition